Obnoxious + Funny = Alpha

Robert Downey Jr at a press conference in France for the upcoming Iron Man 3 movie.

During the press conference he’s upstaged by Gwyneth Paltrow who actually speaks good French… thus allowing her to become the focal point of the interview as many questions went through her and she answered for the both of them.

Until…

…thus all anyone will remember from a half-hour interview.

(1) RDJ doesn’t care what anyone thinks, (2) He got the blond chick laughing and blushing, and (3) going to jail gives you more street cred than an Academy Award.

Comments

Agreed, the humor is essential to why what he said worked. If it wasn’t funny he would have just came across as a self-centered douche. He may still be a self-centered douche, but being funny is what appeals to us on an emotional level and is what we’re going to remember most.

My girls were riding the school bus and they both got off and told me they had a new boyfriend. I asked them what they liked about the boy and they said, he was so funny he yelled “tushie, tushie, tushie” for the entire ride. All I could do was shake my head, obnoxiousness is definitely attractive.

She must have known that he didn’t speak any french, but she spoke it to him anyway without translating immediately. I don’t think that that speaks well of her motives, to put it mildly. She was happy to try and prove her superiority over him. Given that her character’s previous stand out contribution to the series of films are ankle suicide height high heels, age appropriate pretty face and support character role – perhaps we can understand why she’s a little bitter. (I haven’t seen this film, maybe this improves. I’m waiting for netflix TBH)

I’m glad that he took the issue and dumped on it with humour. From my point of view, I think that any ‘apology’ that he gave at the end was deliberately lacking in sincerity. Clearly YMMV. He’s just said that, where he’s come from, it was never necessary to speak la belle langue francaise, but he’s a tough man goramit, so that’s okay. Ms Entitled is just showing her rich girl privilege. I think that he won the frame, the reframe that he imposed.

Pity that the final translation was so lacking the full detail of what he said. It wasn’t a bad attempt, but it fell short of the original. Hopefully there was asubtitled version put out too.

I love Downey’s work, but he does come across as a bit of a poseur here. (“Poseur” is French for “complete fraud.”)

He wasn’t “raised by wolves” for Christ’s sake — his father was (and is) a successful film director and playwright. “Raised by irresponsible stoners” would be a more accurate description, but it’s not like he was scavenging in dumpsters.

If he never learned French in school it’s because he was too busy studying dance and acting.

Here she speaks (perfectly in Spanish) lovingly of Robert.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8nvE203wAg
I translate : “when I’m working with Robert the day is always very interesting, very funny. He is always changing the words, you have to be ready.”
“He is always deceiving me, like an older brother, but he is very, very nice, a very good person.”